The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has requested an assessment of three infant porridges and an infant formula containing the probiotic bacteria Bifidobacterium lactis from the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority asked whether the conclusions in a VKM assessment from 2010 should be revised in the light of the new scientific knowledge provided by the producer.

VKM concludes that the producer has not provided any new scientific knowledge which properly address the concerns we had in the benefit and risk assessment of B. lactis Bb12 in 2010. VKM conclude that the concerns regarding safety have not been resolved. Thus the conclusions in our previous assessment should remain unchanged.